The present invention relates to a smoke exhauster and more particualrly to a structurally improved smoke exhauster which has a quick releasable device for facilitating a rapid and thorough cleaning of the exhauster.
Typically, a smoke exhauster generally has an enclosure including lateral plates and front panel, a pair of fan rotors enclosed in a fan housing and a hood plate attached to the lower portion of the enclosure.
The smoke exhauster is disposed over a stove or cooking range in a kitchen. The cleaning of the hood plate and fan housing is usually a tiresome task to the user especially when a smoke exhauster is found not readily releasable.
In the U.S. Pat. No. 5,311,857, a pair of pivoting catches at rear side of the hood plate releasably engage a pair of locking bars respectively on the enclosure and a pair of tabs at the front side of the hood plate are supported by a protruding edge of the rear panel of the enclosure. The fan housing has a pair of spring catches releasably engage with a pair of corresponding hook-shaped securing appendages. So that both the hood plate and the fan housing are releasable and facilitate the cleaning of oil and grime accumulated on them. However, this smoke exhauster has been found disadvantageous on that the lever of the spring catch is harmful to user's finger when the fan housing engages with enclosure and that the tabs of the hood plate supported by the protruding edge of the panel are found not so stable because of the deformation of both of the tabs and the protruding edge. Besides, it is difficult to align the pivoting catches the the locking bars after the tabs are supported on the edge. When the pivoting catches are disengaged with the locking bars, the hood plate must be immediate taken out of the enclosure and laid down on an appropriate plate. This causes a great inconvenience for the user.